Frederick "Fred" Edmond Olson

Frederick Edmund Olson of Flippin, Arkansas passed away peacefully, at age 86 on September 15th, 2022, following a brief battle with cancer. He was surrounded by Judy, his wife of 24 years, his son Scott, and daughter Theresa aka Pickle. He was preceded in death by his beloved dogs Skipper, Chipper and Shiloh, his parents Sven and Frances (nee Motley), a sister who perished in early childhood, and many Aunts, Uncles and Cousins. His first wife Helene (nee Schwarz), to whom he was married for 39 years, also preceded Fred in death, in 1996.

Fred was born on February 5th, 1936 in Jamestown, NY and raised in the Allegheny Mountains of Lakewood, NY. He was the son of an immigrant from Sweden and was raised in a modest but loving home during a time when the Country was engaged in World War II, and still working to recover from the effects of the Great Depression. From childhood, he was raised with an unwavering and lifelong work ethic. He started a paper route at age 9 and while canoeing to school, hunted for family dinners. During an interview, conducted with him by his granddaughter Brooke for a school project, Fred shared that he “would shoot ducks before school, take them to school and the ‘lunch ladies’ would clean them and keep half, then he would take the rest home.” Fred proudly served as a Boy Scout and would go on to achieve the rank of Eagle Scout, an accomplishment only reached by 6% of Boy Scouts. In addition to hunting and fishing, Fred greatly enjoyed watching and playing baseball, basketball and football and played on all these teams at Southwestern Central High School. He was also a devoted lifelong fan of the Detroit Tigers and Lions. In adulthood, Fred, and the family (as well as friends of Scott and Pickle) would forego traditional Thanksgiving to attend the Detroit Lions game. Fred was also a devotee of Bobby Knight’s Indiana University Basketball teams.

After graduating from high school, Fred enlisted in the United States Army where he served active duty from 1955 to 1958 and Reserves till 1961, post-Korean Conflict and pre-Vietnam. Following Boot Camp at Fort Dix, NJ, Private First Class Olson was sent to Fort Bliss in Texas, where he graduated from Missile School and was promoted to the rank of Corporal, and then Sergeant. Fred and Helene eloped in 1957 and were married a second time in a church wedding in Lakewood, NY. They moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin where Fred attended Milwaukee School of Engineering and graduated summa cum laude with his B.S. in Electrical Engineering in 1961. Fred went on to earn his Professional Engineering License.

From Milwaukee, they moved to Akron, Ohio for his first jobs as an Electrical Engineer and where he would utilize his military missile training at Goodyear Aerospace Corporation and Lear Siegler. Then they moved back to Milwaukee for positions with Louis Allis and WER Industrial Corporation. In 1972, a position with Shaum Electric moved Fred and the family from the land of the Badgers and Brewers to the town of Elkhart, Indiana neighboring the land of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. It is here he would plant roots and start his own electrical engineering business called O-Tronics, Inc. in 1975. He would go on to operate O-Tronics for 25 years. Fred was active in coaching and umping Little League Baseball and the family were members of Hillcrest United Methodist Church. Fred would take the family on many road trip travel adventures and raised a road trip warrior in his daughter Pickle. Fred and the family also enjoyed their get-away cottage on Atwood Lake in Wolcottville, Indiana.

Following Helene’s passing, Fred married Judy O’Neil in 1998. They would go on to build their retirement Utopia in the Ozark Mountains of Arkansas, while successfully re-creating the environment of nature, mountains, and woods from Fred’s childhood. They built their home in Flippin, Arkansas and until age 83, when Fred sustained double quadriceps tendon tears, he worked and played on his land, bush-hogging, chopping wood, building a shooting range into the mountainside, and making a multitude of other enhancements to the property. Fred particularly enjoyed making a daily trek up the mountain to retrieve blackberries to accompany his morning cereal. Fred and Judy are grateful to have many wonderful friends in the Flippin area and they are active members of Bull Shoals United Methodist Church.

Surviving Fred, in addition to his wife Judy, are his son Scott (Jenny), daughter Pickle, stepdaughters Jenny (Dave) Loncaric and Laura O’Neil, grandchildren Brooke (Steve) Young, Brody (Lacy) Olson, Nik (Erica) Olson, Hayley Loncaric, and Jasper and Jorey Rightmeier. He is also survived by eight Great-Grandchildren. Fred is being cremated by Kirby Funeral Home in Bull Shoals.

A Memorial Service will be held at the Bull Shoals United Methodist Church. Please check back for service times. Memorial donations can be made to Hospice of the Ozarks.